1. Field of Application
This invention relates to book counters and more particularly to equipment for counting books by sorting them according to information carried by the book's cover.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Books, particularly paperback books, are widely marketed today through a distribution network including bookstores, newstands, supermarkets, convenience stores and a myriad of other places accessible to a person interested in something to read. However, a goodly number of such books, following distribution to a place of sale, are returned to the wholesalers, jobbers, publisher, or other distributing organization. Once so returned a credit must be issued against the account of the party originally charged for the books. Such credits are usually made by accounting for the titles of the books returned for credit or other book carried information indicating the book's price. Magazines are distributed through identical and similar channels of trade; and are likewise returned for credit. As such, reference to paperback books will generally include magazines.
Returned paperback books are not always neatly arranged by title or price in another way that facilitates easy credit accounting. To sort such books by utilizing equipment shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,126 to N. V. Vulcano for Book-Sorting Machine does not, however, fully solve all the problems in the trade. The large number of titles, prices, publishers, etc., and the extremely large number of books that are returned due to present distribution schemes has greatly complicated the accounting for returned paperback books. It is estimated that the number of returned paperback books runs into the hundreds of millions. As such many distributors do not return the books into the distribution network but destroy the books after the credit accounting process. Furthermore, the large number of books being returned would rapidly fill the sorting bins in equipment of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,126 and require fairly constant emptying of the bins.
An alternate approach to return book sorting and counting is provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 323,295 filed on Nov. 11, 1981 by Vincent N. Vulcano for "A Sorting Machine For Sorting Covers". This equipment sorts covers removed from books and obviates the need for return of the entire book. It also provides for shredding of the cover once counted. However, it is possible that all covers removed, and sent in for accounting, will not be properly stripped from the book and, as such, ragged edges and irregular tear lines may either slow down the sorting process or jam it up completely. In addition, the distributor may prefer or be otherwise required to retain the covers for auditing or futher accounting purposes.